Company acknowledges ID card mix-up

A programming error by a vendor doing work for health care insurer ConnectiCare resulted in hundreds of its subscribers getting identification cards of others as well as their own, company officials said Friday.

About 700 ConnectiCare subscribers received the ID cards of others early last month, said Kimberly Kann, a spokeswoman for the company. The error occurred on Dec. 30, 2017, at a St. Charles, Ill., facility of RR Donnelley, a Chicagobased communications company.

The 700 people who received the ID cards of other ConnectiCare customers represents about 0.005 percent of the company’s subscriber base, Kann said. Letters explaining the problem have been sent out over the past six weeks to everyone who was affected by the error and replacement cards were sent, she said.

ConnectiCare ID cards do not include Social Security numbers or other financial information, Kann said. In addition to a member’s name and identification number, the cards also carry a number for pharmacy transactions, she said.

Kann said she does not believe that any subscriber who received another customer’s card in error would try to use it unscrupulously.

“Doctors are required to ask for a driver’s license or some other form of identification when accepting a member ID card,” Kann said. “Protecting personal information is a responsibility we take very seriously. We are working with RR Donnelley to make sure that appropriate steps are taken to prevent this type of error from happening again.”

ConnectiCare is based in Farmington.